📈 Sri Lanka’s Creator Economy: Growth Hindered by Platform Monetisation Lag

• Overview & Key Challenge: Despite high engagement and massive local followings, Sri Lanka’s content creators face systemic monetisation barriers. Major platforms derive user engagement from local talent without offering direct payment structures. • Platform Breakdown: • TikTok: The TikTok Creator Rewards Program remains unavailable in Sri Lanka, forcing creators with millions of views to earn zero direct payouts from the platform. • YouTube: Serves as the positive benchmark with long-standing, clear, direct monetisation paths in the country. • Facebook: Expanding access slowly; Sri Lanka is now listed as eligible for Facebook Content Monetisation. • Financial Workarounds & Ecosystem Impact: • Local creators heavily rely on side-door income streams including brand deals, individual sponsorships, affiliate links, and payment workarounds like PayPal integration. • The lack of platform-backed infrastructure leads to inconsistent pricing, unstandardised rates, and reliance on negotiation skills rather than content quality. • Industry experts call for faster platform feature deployment and fairer, structured partnerships from local brands to build a sustainable digital economy.